Sunday, January 11, 2015

Some of our family members got together recently for a pre-Christmas family reunion. To mix in a bit of family history with our get-together, I searched back through some old photos and family slides from Christmases gone by and came up with a few old photographs. To share these with family members on the day, I enlarged them to A4 size, printed and laminated them to pass around during the day. Both old and young members of our family enjoyed looking through them and I've included some of the photographs below and a few extras.

Family Christmas tree made by Leo NORTHCOTE, my grandfather in the 1950s

As a child, I can remember the pre-Christmas excitement more than the presents themselves. My sister, brother and I would all scream into our pillows with excitement on Christmas eve. One Christmas eve, I was absolutely sure that I saw the lights of Santa's sleigh over the skies of North Ryde in Sydney!

My great-grandpaents, William Joseph KENEALLY (or KENELLEY) and Margaret Anne BUTLER, owned a number of houses in the Renwick St area of Drummoyne between the late 1880s and early 1900s.

38 Renwick St, Drummoyne, Sydney (1892-1956)

This home was purchased in 1892. My paternal grandmother, Ellen Maria KENEALLY, was born in this house in 1893 in Drummoyne.

38 Renwick St, Drummoyne

Photo taken in the mid 1990s

38 Renwick St, Drummoyne (renovated)

Photo taken in January 2015

26 Renwick St, Drummoyne, Sydney (1897-c. 1926)

This home was purchased in 1897. My great-grandparents lived in this home for many years. They were listed in 1913 in the Sydney Sands Directory and the house was called "Killea", after William's birthplace in County Tipperary, Ireland. This is the home where William KENEALLY died in 1926.

Source: Sydney Sands Directory 1913

Excerpt from William KENELLEY's (or KENEALLY) death certificate in 1926

26 Renwick St, DrummoynePhoto taken in 2009

26 Renwick St, DrummoynePhoto taken in 2015

85 Renwick St, Drummoyne, Sydney (1905-1956)

This place was also owned by the KENEALLYs. At one stage, James KENEALLY (William and Margaret's son) lived her with his family.

85 Renwick St, DrummoynePhoto taken in 2009

85 Renwick St, DrummoynePhoto taken in 2015

25 Thornley St, Drummoyne, Sydney (1915-c.1918)

This place was also owned by the KENEALLYs. The photos I have of this place now seem to show that it has either been completed renovated or rebuilt.

25 Thornley St, DrummoynePhoto taken in 2015

33 Moore St, Drummoyne

During the mid 1920s, and possibly for longer, James Joseph KENEALLY (son of William KENEALLY and Margaret BUTLER), lived with his family at 33 Moore St, Drummoyne.

My maternal grandmother was a KINGSBURY and her mother was a CARRICK. They lived in Balmain, a suburb of inner Sydney, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although I don't have photographs of their homes from these times, I have gathered photographs over the last few years.

Balmain/ Rozelle, Sydney (1890)

Around Mary Anne McLISTER (nee CARRICK) ran this shop in premises on 711 Darling St, Rozelle (then known as Rozelle).

711 Darling St, Rozelle

Photo taken in 2011

Just before Lily Ann KINGSBURY was married in 1937, she was living at this house in Asquith St, Auburn.

Surry Hills, Sydney (1893)

At the time of his first wife's death in 1893, James Walter KINGSBURY was living at 4 Hart St, Surry Hills.

Balmain/ Rozelle, Sydney (1902-c.1905)

Balmain/ Rozelle, Sydney (1902-c.1905)

My maternal grandmother, Lily Ann KINGSBURY, was born in this terrace house in 1902 in a suburb of inner Sydney that was known as Balmain at the time of her birth. This suburb is now known as Rozelle.

10 Red Lion St, Rozelle

Photograph taken in 2009

Auburn, Sydney

After my great-grandmother's death in 1912, her daughters Mary Elizabeth KINGSBURY and Lily Ann KINGSBURY lived with their aunt and uncle in Auburn. Mary lived with her aunt Mary Ann McLISTER (nee CARRICK) and Lily lived with her uncle Thomas CARRICK in Sutherland St, Auburn.

Chippendale in Sydney (1904-1905)

Some time after his arrival in Sydney, John Joseph WALTERS met Margaret FLEMING. She was to become his future wife. At the time of their marriage in 1904, Margaret was living with her parents at 4 Bartley St (not "Bartlett" as was recorded on her marriage certificate) in Chippendale.

After their marriage, John Joseph WALTERS and Margaret FLEMING lived across the road from her earlier home at 3 Bartley St, as noted on on their first son's birth certificate in 1905.

Excerpt from John Joseph WALTERS' birth certificate, 1905

3 Bartley St, ChippendalePhoto taken in 2009

Forest Lodge in Sydney (c.1900-1940)

My maternal grandparents, John Joseph WALTERS and Lily Ann KINGSBURY began their married life at 13 York St, Forest Lodge (Glebe) in Sydney in the home of John's parents, John Joseph WALTERS and Margaret FLEMING. Although I don't have photographs of this house from the early days, I have taken photos of the house in recent years.

13 York St, Forest Lodge (Glebe) in SydneyPhoto taken in 2009

Beverly Hills in Sydney (1940-1996)

In 1940, the WALTERS family built their own home at 64 Ponyara Road, Beverly Hills in Sydney.

Yesterday I attended an excellent presentation at the Society of Australian Genealogists in Kent St, Sydney by Judy Keena titled Identifying Australian House Styles. It was a very helpful session with plenty of ideas for how to be an architecture detective when analysing old photographs including houses in our family history research.

While listening to Judy yesterday, I had the idea of tracing our family's history through our houses. Then I realised this could be a huge project - probably a bit bigger than I have time for at the moment. Instead, I decided to share a few photographs of houses from our family's history on a series of blogposts. The series of blogposts includes:

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About Me

My passion is genealogy and family history. I host a podcast about Australian family history, Genies Down Under. In my day job, I work as a lecturer and a researcher in higher education, teaching pre-service teachers.